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A research team led by Prof. Chen Cheng from the Hefei Institutes of Â鶹ÒùÔºical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has retrieved global aerosol and surface properties using advanced polarization data from China's GF-5(02) satellite.

The team independently developed the two onboard instruments, the Directional Polarimetric Camera (DPC) and the Particulate Observing Scanning Polarization (POSP), and launched them with the GF-5(02) satellite in 2021. Using these polarimetric observations, the team produced a comprehensive global dataset containing key atmospheric and surface parameters with high spatial and spectral accuracy.

Their findings, published in and , demonstrate the potential of satellite-based polarization techniques to improve our understanding of aerosol behavior, air quality, and the reflectance of the Earth's surface.

Polarimetric remote sensing is particularly effective at separating the contributions of atmospheric particles and surface signals, offering detailed insights into aerosol optical-microphysical properties, particle composition, and vertical structure.

The researchers used the Generalized Retrieval of Atmosphere and Surface Properties (GRASP) algorithm to retrieve aerosol and surface properties from satellite observations. GRASP is an advanced inversion model that they were deeply involved in.

Using this method, they generated Level 2 products that include aerosol absorption properties, size distributions, scattering features, aerosol layer height, as well as land and ocean surface reflectance such as albedos, bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).

This high-quality dataset provides critical support for studies related to the Earth–atmosphere radiative balance, air quality monitoring, Earth system modeling, and climate change analysis. It also supports efforts to better understand the role of aerosols in atmospheric processes and their impact on climate change.